Budget 2018 - Concern over Schools Budget

Schools are allocated £400m in 2018 budget for “little extras”

Following the announcement of the 2018 Budget, there is nationwide concern over the £400m the Chancellor has pledged for education so that schools can buy the “little extras” that they need.

This equates to £10,000 per primary school and £50,000 per secondary school.

A survey conducted by Research Now/ParentKind found that in 2017, 78% of parents believe the cost of sending their children to school is increasing with parents donating, on average, £8.90 per month. This has increased to approx £11.35 per month. There is also concern from parents regarding the rising cost of school uniforms, school dinners and school trips.

With 34,000 parents, teachers and support staff (according to schoolcuts.org.uk) all petitioning for more funding purely for special educational needs, it is being claimed that the £400m is barely going to scratch the surface of what is needed to bring our children’s education to the standard that it deserves.

Schoolcuts.co.uk are currently raising awareness that there has been no money allocated in the recent budget to help schools fill the holes in their core budget, there is no allocated funding for SEND children with over 2000 children currently awaiting provision and with the schools capital budget already down from £7.6bn in 2010 to £5.6bn in 2018/19 (including the one off allocation of £400m for “little extras”) the budget is still, worryingly, predicted to decrease to £4.5bn by 2020.

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